3 Types of Business Writing That Pay Big Money

Business writing gigs can be some of the most lucrative writing work you'll ever take on. You can easily earn $100 per hour and more with this kind of work. You can take on projects for corporate clients. Or you can work for small businesses if you prefer (and contrary to popular belief, they often significant budgets to hire professional contractors).

What are some examples of business writing work that pays well? Here are three examples, and links to articles and an e-book I've written on how you can write these documents for clients.

How well do these projects pay? One page press releases can go from mid three figures up to four figures. Report-style documents and interview-heavy ones like white papers and case studies can pay several dollars per word. What's not to love?

Are you a business writer? What are your favorite types of projects? Which have led to the best pay in your experience? Share your own examples in the comments below.

Jenn-You nailed two of mine-the white paper and case studies. The great thing with this type of project is do it right and you often end up with multiple projects from the same client-e.g., a series of white papers.

I also love doing marketing brochures in my niche (health care or employee benefits). These can also be very lucrative and allow me to play with branding, which I love. Despite the rise of all things online, there is still a great market for the printed brochures-especially in my niche.

Very good point re: print marketing materials. Those can be very lucrative projects still, and it’s a great opportunity to partner with a designer to offer full development services. Do you ever do that, do you handle the design work yourself, or do you let them do the design portion of the job in-house?

Funny you should mention it. I just hooked up with a local graphic designer. By far, most of my clients do their own design. I tend to wok with mid- to large-sized clients.

In my early days, I did some design work myself. I love it, but am nothing more than a talented amateur and I do not recommend it. It’s time-consuming and better left to the pros. So, I’ll dabble for my personal stuff, but not business.

BTW, Peter Bowerman has a great eBook, Profitable by Design: Tapping the Writer/Designer Partnership Goldmine on this very topic. If you don’t mind, here’s the link.
http://www.wellfedwriter.com/partnerwithdesignersebook.shtml